


As It Turns Out

by tigereyes45



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: F/M, Family Dynamics, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Gendrya - Freeform, Listen Gendry's a good boyfriend, Starks reactions, doesn't mean they told everyone, first reactions, sansa walks in on them
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-21
Updated: 2019-06-16
Packaged: 2020-03-08 22:42:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,311
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18904147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tigereyes45/pseuds/tigereyes45
Summary: When a war has ended and another is on the rise people need a few moments to themselves. As a relationship blossoms, Arya's family begins to find out. How will they handle the news?





	1. At Least She Can Trust Something

**Author's Note:**

> Gendrya: the Stark siblings reactions to them, with lots of Jondry moments pls. Thank you for doing this by the way.  
> Requested on tumblr by Anonymous. I am taking requests on there at tigereyes45 on until the end of Thursday 5/23/19.

As Sansa stands in front of her sister and her sister’s newly acquired lover, she had to face facts. Sansa was the first to find out about Arya and Gendry. Although she was sure that Bran had known before even the two of them did. How she handles this information would affect how the others handle it. How the people will handle it. Sansa sighs as she wonders what would their parents do.

She had gone to her sister’s room to ask for help in preparing how many weapons to send with the soldiers. Her sister was more aware of how many arrows bowman usually go through or how often swords break. Even with the new material, they were made out of she seemed aware of the strengths and weaknesses of their weapons.

When she found her sister’s door open Sansa assumed Arya was out. She decided on checking in the room first before closing her sister’s room and running to the forge to check there. However, as she pokes her head through the door she was met with two facts. Her sister was indeed in her childhood bedroom. She was not doing anything childlike inside it though.

“Arya!” She shouted stepping completely into the room.

The man grabbed for a pillow as Arya only looks over her shoulder. She doesn’t even try to move off of him. However, as her face grows a bright shade of red Sansa felt some pride. She should be embarrassed. This never would have happened if she had taken the slightest care to shut her door.

“Sansa! Get out!”

“I will not! I need to talk to you.” Sansa covers her eyes by pinching them shut as her fingers grip the bridge of her nose. “Will you please get off him and get dressed?”

“This is my room!”

“Your door was open. I think that forfeits your claim on privacy.”

“Arya I think you should get off now.”

“Fine.” Sansa could practically see her sister roll her eyes even with her own closed.

“Honestly Arya even Rickon could shut his own door at three.” Sansa declares as opens her eyes a little. Only to see Arya throwing clothes at the man the way she had seen her sister throw knives. “Who even is this man?”

“His name’s Gendry. He went with Jon beyond the wall to catch a white walker.” Sansa holds back a groan. Of course, Arya would fall for one of Jon’s men. As she looks over the quickly changing man Sansa knows one thing. Jon doesn’t know.

“If you help me write out the order for how many weapons we’ll need for the men’s journey south then I will never mention this to Jon,” Sansa promises as she wonders how many people have already caught them. She expected Arya to be better at hiding such things by now. Especially with the girl sporting the title of assassin and killer of the Night King.

“Fine! Just get out.” Sansa looks between the two. Gendry had his pants on and was rolling his shirt up in his hands. Arya was completely dressed now. Her arms were crossed in front of her chest. The red in her face was dying down but there was still enough that Sansa could claim her little sister was blushing. She would enjoy bringing this up again later. At least she finally had something new to tease Arya over.

“I’ll meet you in the forge later,” Arya tells Gendry as she grabs Sansa’s hand. With an unnecessary tug, she drags Sansa behind her out of her room. Grumbling the entire time about Sansa being able to ask any of the commanders the same questions. As the two work together to finish up preparations Sansa couldn’t help but smile during all fo it. Which only made Arya testier.

Once they were done Arya stormed off. Sansa saw Gendry later that same day. Practicing with Jon in the middle of the grounds. As Jon knocks Gendry down the two share a laugh. When Gendry got back up and did the same to Jon Sansa realized something. Gendry wasn’t just a man who went North with her brother and slept with her sister. He was good friends with Jon and had earned the trust of both.

For now, she will trust him to do right by her siblings. If later he proves untrustworthy then she at least knows she can trust Arya to make the best decision.


	2. Raven Eyes and Lost Emotions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bran knew of what the future held for Arya and Gendry before even they knew. It was one of the last things he felt emotions over before it all became too much to retain such feelings. Sometimes when he sees them the feelings come back.

When Brandon Stark felt all the memories of all the moments of the world fill his soul there were two particular images that stood out to him. One was Meera old and grey, surrounded by men and water. The moss and grass slowly growing closer on her. They twist around each other and the men before reaching Meera. His heart broke at the sight but it was gone just as fast as it had come. He saw hundreds and thousands more moments and memories before the next one that stood out appeared before him.

Arya was there, kissing a man he had seen but did not know. A voice whispers Gendry Waters in his ear. It matches Arya’s lips as she pulls back and talks to him. She looks over at her brother before the two move. Suddenly they are in the Godswood at Winterfell. He’s wearing Northman clothes instead of Riverland attire. They hold no cloaks but their backs were stained. Arya’s grey and brown, and Gendry’s grey and white. He was no wolf but wore their clothes. As if he had blinked suddenly there were wolves surrounding them. Wolves with horns like deer sprouting from their heads. A murder of ravens passes above them. Gendry holds Arya against his chest to defend her from their sight.

Then everyone but his sister was gone. Bran felt overwhelmed by grief and guilt as he watches her walk past the trees they had once played among. She was alone and her face was taunt. She was lost in thought. Alone in the snow.

“I’m sorry,” Bran cries out without thinking. She looks up and instead of fear or confusion like he had seen on Jon, Arya looks skeptical. Then she smiles and her eyes water up.

“I love you bro” She announces reaching out to him. He reaches out for her hand. Before their fingers could touch Arya was gone. Her words cut off. Bran wonders why he had felt so much guilt. Why he had apologized? The answers do not offer themselves up. By the end of that day he had changed. He was no longer Brandon Stark. No, he was the three-eyed raven.

When he next saw his sister he already knew everything that had come to pass in her life. He also knew the potential roads there were left for it. In the ones where he had seen her happy she was surrounded by people she knew or would know. Many already in Winterfell and seven on the way.

Now the two of them sit in silence by the fire in the library. A place Bran never liked much before he had changed. Arya was never one much for it either. The two always had preferred being outside. Running around and doing something. Yet at peace, they were in the silence of the books. Arya breaking a twig in her hands just to move.

“I thought you were dead,” Arya admits as she through a broken twig onto the fire. It wasn’t needed but she had to get it out of her hands. Otherwise, she would have just kept breaking it apart.

“Everyone did,” save for Meera but he doesn’t mention the Reeds anymore. He doesn’t try to think about them either. Even as Meera rides home he sees every step of hers. His mind offering up as many interruptions as it can. She still remains at the forefront.

Arya shakes her head. A small smile still on her face. She was happy he was alive. Truly happy, he wishes he could feel the same for her. Was she happier now that she was trained in ways of combat unknown to him? How would she have been if anything had gone differently? Hypotheticals like that are the only things Bran doesn’t know now.

“The Night King is coming. A legend walking straight out of Old Nan’s stories,” She laughs. “It almost doesn’t feel real.”

“It is,” he promises while squeezing his hands around the arms of his chair.

Arya offers him a curious look. The one she often gives before beginning one of her games. Bran saw her use it on so many before taking their faces for a god she had not been born too. Or perhaps death was the one god they all belonged to from birth. It was the only promise. The only guarantee.

“You will be happy Arya.” He isn’t sure why but he knows he must say these words now. There would be no time for them later.

“What?”

“In the future. You’ll be happy.” He has seen it. Her face was so bright as she lifts up Gendry. As she comes home to him at work in the forge or taking up most of their bed. She would be happy and Gendry was a good man. Her future was the only one Bran would promise because it was the only one he knows he will be the cause of its destruction.

“I’m happy right now. We’re together again. Almost all of us. Finally.” Arya takes his right hand in her left. She squeezes it tightly and for once Bran felt warm. For once he was a little something else then just numb.

He assumes she is telling the truth. He wants her to be happy right now. He wants her to reach out for him in the woods on that fateful day. You say she loves him still even after she’ll lose it all. One last piece fo the boy he had been wanted that from her. He suspects it was the only thing keeping the old bran alive.

When Gendry does arrive Bran tries to be nice. As nice as his new demeanor will allow. He offers the boy a seat at their family’s table but Gendry looks at him with a terrified look and runs away. He tells him of his father’s past. Yet Gendry only shrugged and returned to work. Nothing Bran tried worked to bring the two closer. So he steps back and leaves it alone. Trusting in Arya and his siblings to aid the hopeless blacksmith instead. Aid and allies that he would need when Arya leaves until he returns.

As Arya slips into the forge leaving behind he smiles and heads inside to speak with Tyrion.


	3. Big Brother, Cousin, Something

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jon finds out about Arya and Gendry, but not the way everyone thought he would.

Jon thought Gendry was just a well-meaning lad who wanted to prove himself worthy of his father’s name. In their short time knowing each other it was clear Gendry never knew his father. He didn’t hold any love loss for the man either. So when he insisted on coming to Winterfell Jon almost sent him away. He thought perhaps Gendry would be willing to recruit folks from the south to come up North and help them. When Cersei refuses to aid them then he knew he could not risk their new ally’s life. So he brought him North.

Gendry was a good blacksmith. Even better then he was at swinging his war hammer. If asked he would suppose that smaller tools just come more naturally to him. Or he would have before the Brothers without Banners got on him for the phrasing. He had never thought of it like that before. That was what he had told Jon.

He had come off as a normal commoner who just so happened to be a bastard of a lord. A king he had never met. Jon had felt lucky after meeting him. At least he had known his father. Well, he thought he had. A conversation with Sam and confirmation from Bran let him know afterwise that his father was dead before he was even born.

It was a fact that Jon trust almost no one with. Yet in Gendry he found someone he could talk to about it without needing to reveal the whole truth. A helpful ear ready to aid in just listening. Jon watches as the blacksmith toils away at the dragon glass remaining on his anvil. A rhythm slowly forming as he works.

When he pauses to flip the sword in progress over, he asks a question. “So yer saying true and honest Ned Stark lied to you?” He has his hands on either side of the sword. His face wasn’t even looking at Jon. He could tell by the way Gendry's head was ever so tilted towards him, that the man was still listening.

“Yes.” Jon admits. His gaze falls on Longclaw in his lap.

Gendry nods. He was silent as his eyes finally leave his work. His face was contorted and for once Jon had no idea how the smith felt. Since they first met he had been so easy to read. So evident was every emotion on his face that Jon never had to think much about what Gendry was thinking. He would just glance and know. So the sudden confusion he felt looking at his newer friend was odd. It distressed Jon somewhat.

“I can see why that would hurt you.” Gendry breaks the silence with a soft affirmation. His tone was careful and he bites his lip once he’s done. Jon watches as the smith crosses his arms and looks thoughtfully at him. As if he was choosing his words carefully. “I never had a relationship with my father, but I know how much it hurt Arya when she thought her father had loved someone else. She refused to even think he could have loved anyone but her mother. Despite you being her brother.” He adds the last sentence as an afterthought.

“Yes despite,” Jon whispers trying to smile. A crushing feeling sprouts up in his chest before it falls to his stomach. The feeling stays there as if a rock was slowly growing from his inside out. He wasn’t Arya’s brother. When he first learned the news he had only thought of his and Daenery’s relationship. Now all the implications were finally hitting him. He wasn’t Arya’s big brother. His favorite little sister was in fact just his favorite cousin. Even their whole relationship had been built on a lie. How would she treat him once she knows the truth? He ponders the question and all its implications. His blood was the blood of those who were her family and the ones who destroyed it before the Lannisters ever even had their chance at them. When he looks back up Jon realizes Gendry was staring at him now. His concern clear. “She was always like that. Stubborn.” Jon acknowledges and he tries to laugh.

“She was ever since I’d known her,” Gendry admits as he sits next to Jon on a wooden bench.

“How long have you known my sister?” His tongue sticks to the top of his mouth as he says the word, sister. He was a liar. His whole life was a lie.

“Since we were children. We were both heading to the wall right after Ned Stark’s death. Yoren was taking her back home to Winterfell on the way, and if he had lived he probably would have brought her back up to you since Winterfell wouldn’t have been safe by the time we got there.” Gendry shrugs as if he was recanting a history lesson. The way Theon often had during such lessons. Theon was gone now. So was Robb, and Rickon. At least they died still his brothers. He had no idea how Sansa or Arya would react and Bran had already seemed to accept the fact that hew as his cousin not his brother. It hurt, but Jon tried his best to understand.

“Thank you for staying with her.”

Gendry shrugs. “I didn’t want to leave her the first time.” He points out as he slaps his hands onto his knees. “If I had it my way I would be with her forever, but she said no.” Gendry stands then and walks back over to the anvil. He eyes the sword carefully before his face drops. The hammer falls from his hands as realization dawns on his face. When he looks at Jon it is filled with fear.

“I-uh,”

Jon was working his statement out in his own head. Gendry’s fearful eyes are met with his own. Blue of grey just like the steel of his hammer had been on the dragon glass and the slight hue of blue in the black.

“What do you mean?”

“Uh, I s’pose I shouldn’t be surprised Arya didn’t tell ya.” Gendry trips over his words as he tries to speak. His commoner accent coming out far more now then it had before. His lips curve down as the man seemingly appears to shrink before Jon. Even though he was still at least a head taller than the man.

“What happened?” Jon had no idea this question would lead to an hour-long conversation with Gendry about Arya, their time together, her childhood, his childhood, and even the brotherhood. It was the longest he ever heard Gendry talk about anything, and a majority of it was about Arya or how she felt about something or how he thought it would affect her. Almost every other sentence was about Jon’s beloved little sister, well cousin.

By the time he had arrived at the proposal Jon already saw it coming. At first suspicion and anger were what he felt by Gendry’s initial statement. Then confusion and pain. He wasn’t sure why, but it slowly the emotions went by one by one. Each lingering long enough for him to realize what he was feeling. By the time he would understand one Gendry would begin a new tell and a new feeling would replace the old.

When Gendry was done the two sat there in silence for a long time. He wasn’t mad. No he really couldn’t be after hearing it all. It couldn’t be any clearer how Gendry felt. From his stories of it, Arya clearly felt the same. So why did she say no? Why did she turn now a proposal from someone she was so obviously close with. Was she looking for true love? Was she not sure if Gendry was that? Or was there another reason?

Jon looks up to see Gendry was deflated after sharing their tale. He was wondering just the same. Slowly Jon stood up and places a firm hand on Gendry’s shoulders. “The armies leave for the South tomorrow. Until then I think you should talk with Arya. As should I,” Jon adds as he lets the new lord go.

“Uh, why you, my lord?”

Jon shakes his head at the use of the title. “You are not the only one with news and questions. You don’t have to worry about me getting between you two. My matters with my sister are far different from your own. Although I will be asking her why she hadn’t mentioned you sooner.”

Gendry’s smile was weak, but it was there. At least the two men could part in this moment as friends. He thinks to ruin it. To threaten Gendry about the possibility of Arya carrying his bastard. How that would ruin her reputation and Jon would not forget it. He bites his tongue before the words tumble from his mouth. No doubt Arya and Gendry understood that danger. No doubt Arya did not care about it. She always had a soft spot for bastards. Of all sorts, if her friendship with Clegane was any inclination.


End file.
